North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue has a chance to save community broadband in her state. Can she do it?

With your help she can. The North Carolina State Senate just rammed through an awful bill that would stop local communities from building their own high-speed Internet networks. The so-called Level Playing Field/Local Government Competition Bill (H129), sponsored by Time Warner Cable, is a huge threat to North Carolina communities that want to build their own networks because they aren’t well served by Time Warner Cable and other big cable companies.

With the Senate out of the way, this bad bill is headed to the desk of Gov. Perdue, who has hinted that she’ll veto it. But hints aren’t enough. We need to make absolutely sure that Gov. Perdue vetoes this bill.

That's where you come in. If you live in North Carolina, please call Gov. Purdue's office immediately and urge her to veto the Level Playing Field/Local Government Competition Bill. Call 919-733-2391.

This fiasco in North Carolina is dirty politics at its worst. Time Warner Cable doesn't want to serve rural communities because it says it's too expensive, yet it won't stand for anyone else to do it either. And its cronies in the North Carolina General Assembly are so intent on keeping competition out, they’re willing to block local citizens from creating better communications networks for their communities. This bill is unethical and it’s wrong, and it needs to be stopped.

If you live in North Carolina, please call Gov. Perdue now. If not, please forward this post to your friends who do.